I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth;
your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
-John 17
Grace Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Our text today is the Gospel lesson, with special emphasis on the first two verses.
Brothers and Sisters in Christ. Is your name important? Does it actually mean something, or does it mean nothing? In the play Romeo and Juliet, Juliet determines that a name doesn’t really mean anything, saying “What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet.”
It seems like names don’t mean anything. We toss them around and use them like they don’t matter. I can’t remember how many times, when I was in trouble as a kid, that my mom would call me both of my brothers names before finally realizing that it was me, Adam, that was in trouble. She knew which one was the one who was in trouble, but she the name wasn’t the important thing at the time.
And many of us don’t like our names either, we change them or shorten them, we pick nicknames and demand that people call us that instead. For us people in today’s day and age, names just aren’t really that important at all are they? No matter what you call something, it just doesn’t change what it is.
But to God, names are important. To God names mean something. Throughout the pages of scriptures, God gives people names that mean something. These names identify who the person is, and what they have done or will do. We have Peter, whose name mean rock, and upon whose confession, “You are the Christ” the church is founded. We have Abraham, whose name means Father of the People, who became the father of many nations. The list goes on and on, but the most important name is the name of Jesus, the Greek version of Joshua, which means the Lord saves. Jesus, who would die on a cross for all of our sin, has the very name meaning he will save us.
In today’s text, Jesus prays that the Father might keep us in the name that God has given, the name of Jesus, the name “The Lord Saves.” In that name we are one, in that name we are united as the Church of Christ.
But we haven’t always been in that name. We were born of another name, We were born into the name of sin, into the name of Death, into the name of the Tempter. We have been held captive to this name. We could serve no other name on our own. Instead we were held bondage to the owner of this name, Satan.
We have been subject to the name of Satan since almost the very dawn of time. It was when our forefather Adam ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil that we have been bound to that name. In that act, all of us have been sold into slavery to Sin death and the devil.
And we can see that in our daily lives. We are slaves to sin, and because of that we can not truly love God. Our sin shows itself in every way imaginable. St. Paul tells us in Galatians 5, that the acts of the sinful nature are obvious: Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like. Those are the things we are guilty of. We are guilty of these things because each one of them stems from our broken relationship with God. These things are sin. Sin tarnishes the name of God, it separates us from him.
When we are separated from God, we no longer have his name upon us, instead we have the name of Sin Death and the Devil. And really, we don’t want to have God’s name upon us do we? How many times in our lives do we avoid the opportunity to witness to who’s name is upon us? We are at times embarrassed to be known to be a Christian, to have Jesus’ name upon us. Our text tells us that because we have God’s word, that the world will hate us. We don’t want to be hated, we want to be liked. We want to have friends. We want respect. Instead we brazenly claim any other name we can, but we ignore the name of God. We don’t want to claim that name for ourselves. But we will claim any other name.
I am an American. I am a South Dakotan. I am a republican, or I am a democrat. I am doctor, I am a Teacher, I am a whatever, but when it comes to faith we feel like we have to be careful who knows what we believe. We have to be careful who we share our faith with. I don’t want to put my job on the line by claiming to be a Christian. I don’t want to offend anyone who thinks differently then me because I am a Christian. So I will just keep it quite and inside. I won’t tell anyone. I don’t want to be embarrassed infront of my friends, so I ignore my faith in public.
Its easier to do that. We don’t want people to think badly of us. We don’t want to be criticized. Instead we want everyone to like us. But God says in our text today that he has given us his word, and that the “world has hated them” because of it. The world hates Christianity because it is not of this world.
But we do have God’s name upon, even though we are in sin. Even though we deny it before the world, we are God’s possession, and we do have His name upon us.
You received that name in the waters of Holy Baptism. You received a new name, the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. That name is the name above all names, the name at which all other names will bow. That is the name of Jesus. You receive it upon you, and it claims you as its own.
In the ancient Christian church, all the baptisms, for both adults and children were done at one time, the day before Easter. At that time all the baptismal candidates would come into the church in the very early morning before Easter Dawn, and they would be washed in the baptismal waters. Upon coming out of the water, they would receive a new Christian name, and leave behind their old pagan name. Instead of having the name of Apollo, the pagan god, you would have the name Christopher, the bearer of Christ. Instead your pagan name you received a Christian name, one that marked you as Christ.
In modern baptism, we have a remnant of that, as the Pastor asks, “What is this child to be named?” and immediately following, that baby is baptized into the name of God. In baptism we too have left behind our old name, the name of Sin, the name of Death, the name of the devil. Now we have a new name, one that marks us as belonging to Christ.
In the book of Revelation, we see that name being recorded in the book of Life. In baptism, your name was recorded into that book, written in the blood of the lamb. You see it isn’t just claiming the name “Christian” that saves you. Instead it is that by being washed in that name, you are connected to the very death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When you received the name of God, you died with Christ on the cross. When you received the name of God, you laid dead with Christ in a tomb for three days. When you received the name of God, you rose victoriously with Jesus, and now will never die again. Now you have eternal life and you have it to the full.
Friends in Christ, Jesus has given you his name, so that when God the Father looks at you, he doesn’t see your former name of sin, he doesn’t see all those times when you thumbed your nose at Him. Instead, God sees Jesus every time He looks at you. Thus He says, “Well done, good and faithful servant, you are serving me in Christ’s name, the name of Jesus, the name which means God saves.”
Jesus prays in today’s text that you might be kept in that name. IN our world today, we will face many struggles. People will die unexpectedly. Friends will suffer from sickness and disease. People will hate you because you are in that name. Through it all, God has promised to keep you in that name. God has promised that you will remain His, for nothing can snatch you out of his had. He has promised, and that promise is written in the blood of Jesus Christ, crucified for the sins of the world.
Jesus name means God saves. Jesus name is written upon you. Jesus name cannot be erased by anyone else no matter what. You are His. He will now guard and protect you even to life ever lasting. Names do mean something. God’s name means you have forgiveness life and salvation. Nothing is as sweet as that promise: Life in Jesus Name.
Amen.
